"So what have you weirdos been up to?"

This week, Liam, Peter, and I were going to perform a trio for the ALDC LA, so it was an off-show dance. That meant that they obviously had to come, and I was excited for it. Mostly because Maddie's busy this week and won't be around all the time.

"I'm hurt." Peter says, "We've called almost every single day."

"And?" I look over to him as we continue walking, "That legit does not count."

"You know, just dancing and school." Liam says, "And wishing it was summer already."

"It's January." Peter tells him.

"Exactly."

The three of us enter the building and I notice Ashlee talking with Christy.

"Wait, oh my gosh!" I exclaim as Sarah comes out of the studio, "Sarah?!"

"Melanie!" Sarah smiles as we hug.

"How do I never know what's happening here?" I laugh as the boys walk over to us.

"She was in the same flight as us." Peter tells me, "So it wasn't a surprise for us."

"Abby invited me for this week." Sarah tells me, "I don't know how this is going to go."

"Hopefully good with you around." I say as we pull away, "Now I'm excited for this week!"

"Weren't you excited with us?" Liam asks.

"Nope." I lie and chuckle, "Of course, but even more with Sarah."

The boys leave and the two of us enter the studio and line up for pyramid.

"Okay. Welcome Christy. Sarah. Let's get to pyramid quickly." Abby says, "We were in Las Vegas, Nevada, this past weekend. Congratulations. We did a David Bowie number and the group won." We all clap, "Now, on the bottom of the pyramid, we have Kalani. She's not here. Next, we have Mackenzie. In class, I don't remember yelling at you about your feet. On stage, you are thinking about the face and the choreography and the musicality, that's just, like, the first thing to go, is the feet." Next headshot, "Next, we have JoJo. Nice job in the group, no problems, fine. Next, we have Kendall. Kendall, you got through a whole day without a breakdown. Pretty good."

I look over to Jill, who has a confused and kind of upset look on her face.

"Next, we have Maddie. You really wanted to hold onto that can of silly spray. It was all about you getting out the last drop." What kind of comment is that? "Next, on the pyramid, is Melanie. I think you were pretty great in the trio. In the group, however, it was almost like if you weren't there."

Brynn

Nia   Melanie   Maddie   Kendall

JoJo   Mackenzie   Kalani

Brynn and Sarah have a duet, same with Kendall and Maddie. Nia also has an off-show solo this week. Also, the group dance is baseball themed, so that's weird.

•Two Days To Competition•

"Maddie's not here today, huh?" Christy comments as we all meet up outside the building.

"She is, um, filming." Mom answers as Kendall and I take a selfie together.

"Yeah, but how are we gonna finish the one duet without Maddie?" Christy asks, "Do you think they'll get it done, today then and then just rehearse later on?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah." Jill says.

"Kendall and Maddie, dance like, as one, so I'm not worried about--" Mom says.

"Yeah." Kenzie agrees.

"They do." Jill continues, "But they still need to practice."

"Right."

"Honestly, Maddie's getting so busy. We don't know what your plans are." Jess says, "I think Maddie is definitely set up to move on."

"Maddie may not be coming back?" Jill asks.

"I never said that." Mom says.

I decided to go ahead and enter the building as they all kept on talking. Inside, I sat down on the seats, watching some other dancers rehearse an ALDC LA group dance.

"Drama week?" Peter asks as he sits down next to me.

"You would think so." I tell him, "It's been actually pretty chill. Abby's back to her kinda normal self, she isn't going crazy, it's all good."

"And what about your mom's plans?" He looks over to me and I smile.

Peter was the only one I actually told about the plans. I just felt that he wouldn't just scream it to the rest of the world, something that Emma, Klara, and even Liam would do.

"I don't really know. It's like those plans are on a break." I say, "But if she does something, it's probably going to be for Maddie."

"You need to book a job."

"It's not that easy." I chuckle, "I wish though."

"What are your future acting plans?" Peter asks, "Like, movies and stuff?"

"I want to be on Netflix." I smile, "On a movie, or series, or something. Besides that, just having a good career."

After those questions, I started to wonder the same thing again. What is going to happen once we leave?

•One Day To Competition•

"Girls. You need to look like a team." Abby tells us in the group dance rehearsal, "We're competing in Long Beach, an hour up the street. We have kids that come that far to dance class here. Understand? Let's go over it again."

We start dancing again with the music. If I'm honest, it looked like I was the only one who had fun, everyone else looks dead serious, mostly because of Maddie's and Kendall's duet being given to JoJo as a solo instead. Also the tension between Jess and Christy.

"All right, ladies, we are going to New York Dance Experience. These people know you. There will be no tantrums, there will be no storming out of the dressing room. You storm out of that dressing room, keep walking. See you tomorrow. You're out!"

~~~
I sat in the couch, staring at the TV screen as Kenzie, Liam, and Peter played Just Dance 2016. Maddie was out somewhere with Kendall, and Mom was out with Jill, leaving the four of us by ourselves.

Take me down into your paradise
Don't be scared, 'cause I'm your body type
Just something that we wanna try (Wanna try)
'Cause you and I (You and I)
We're cool for the summer

In other words, I was silently enjoying the songs and watching the three of them fail. I just didn't have the heart to tell them they kind of sucked at it.

Or did I?

"You guys suck." I laugh as the song finishes, "You're not supposed to make up your own dance."

"If I just sat in the couch like mom, I would've won." Kenzie comments as we all see the scores.

"Even though I sucked, I did win." Liam smiles.

"Shut it, birthday boy for tomorrow." I tell him, "I'll play the next one."

"Deal."

"I wanna play too." Kenzie says.

"I'll be the third player!" Peter exclaims.

"And I'll just sit here." Liam sits on the couch, "That's what I get for winning."

I just shrug as we choose our characters.

"I'll be yelling at you if you lose." Liam says.

"We don't care." Kenzie smiles.

My mama told me when I was young
We are all born superstars
She rolled my hair and put my lipstick on
In the glass of her boudoir

After that one, we all took turns and continues playing.

Yeah, it's pretty clear, I ain't no size two
But I can shake it, shake it
Like I'm supposed to do
'Cause I got that boom boom that all

Hoy contigo estoy mejor
Si todo sale mal
Lo puedo encaminar
Y estar mejor
Me puedes escuchar
Y decir no, no, no

I got chills.
They're multiplyin'.
And I'm losin' control.
'Cause the power
You're suplyin',
It's electrifyin'!

At night, I convinced the three of them to watch 'Dirty Dancing'. And honestly, do not ask why.

"So you don't care about the movie at all." Peter realizes as the screen goes black, "You just care about the final dance."

"Yes." I smile, "It is genius, especially the lift." I sigh, "Kenny Ortega is a genius."

"And there we go again." Kenzie says, "Now I gotta rewatch High School Musical."

"What about the new movie?" I look over to her, "It was also pretty good."

"I know. But I did have an obsession with HSM." Kenzie tells me.

Who could forget about their crazy 2006 era? Me, I was barely even born.

•Competition Day•

"Next up we have number 205. This is duet/trio open, ages nine and ten." The announcer says.

"Good luck." JoJo whispers as I walk on stage with the boys.

Baby I'm preying on you tonight
Hunt you down eat you alive
Just like animals
Animals
Like animals-mals

Maybe you think that you can hide
I can smell your scent for miles
Just like animals
Animals
Like animals-mals
Baby I'm

So what you trying to do to me
It's like we can't stop, we're enemies
But we get along when I'm inside you, eh
You're like a drug that's killing me
I cut you out entirely
But I get so high when I'm inside you

Yeah you can start over you can run free
You can find other fish in the sea
You can pretend it's meant to be
But you can't stay away from me
I can still hear you making that sound
Taking me down rolling on the ground
You can pretend that it was me
But no, oh

After the judges' comments, we were all backstage again, waiting for the ALDC LA dances to be performed.

"Did you guys see Christy's face back there?" Peter asks as we all sit down on the floor.

"She's so weird when I dance." Sarah comments, "But at least she doesn't pull a Kristie Ray."

"Yeah." I smile, "So, are you guys confident enough to win?"

"I am!" JoJo exclaims.

"I think we did pretty good." Brynn adds, "I'm so excited."

"And I think we really did entertain the judges." Liam finishes, "We've got a fair shot."

"There's only one thing I don't like about this competition." I say, "And it is that because of our age, we have to be in the mini category."

"That means that you don't go up against our duet." Sarah says, "More chances of winning!"

"But baby-ish dances." Peter sighs, "I don't need to watch one more group dance about the monkeys jumping on the bed."

"What about the fairy dances?" JoJo asks, "I used to hate those."

"I was free from those." I say, "But not from the princess ones."

"Good conversation." Maddie comments and we all look over to her, who was watching us with Nia and Kendall, "But we gotta go get ready."

"Good luck. I'll just be looking for birthday discounts." Liam comments as I stand up.

"Lucky." I tell him as Sarah and Brynn stand up.

"And I'll be following him like the bestest friend in the world that I am." Peter smirks.

"Fair a shot." JoJo comments, "Bring me some ice cream."

"But we can't even leave!" Liam yells as all of us girls walk away from them, "So we can't do anything!"

~~~
"So now we have baseball. Michael Jackson's passion. Something that he loved to do." Abby tells us when we finish rehearsing the dance, "It was his outlet, where he was just a regular kid. Just like you guys. There's not too many times that you get to be just a regular kid. All those kids out there look up to you. We're gonna walk down that hallway, and every kid in that hallway wishes that they could be you. I want to see the choreography done like a team, a winning team."

Backstage, everything was silent between us, until we had to go on stage.

"Up next, taking the stage is 'Club 42'."

"Play ball!"

We all run to the stage and get into our positions.

We do it all for the win
'Till there's nothing left, no regrets
Playing until the game has ended
Only one team at the top

"Judges, what do you have to say?" The announcer asks as she walks on stage.

"I loved it. I loved the concept. You look pretty, yet you're tough. Sarah, I felt you lost a little bit at the beginning on the turning. It just drew my focus 'cause you were on the end. You have a lot to live up to, right? We all have to work to the highest level of our group. Thank you."

"Great job. I love this idea. And the aerial, like, there's no aerial in baseball, but you did it. I love it, I love it."

"Brilliant performance, brilliant."

"Thank you."

Everyone cheers as we all walk off stage.

~~~

"Your top junior group today." The announcer says and we hold hands, "Please put your hands together for "'Five In Time', Touch of Class!"

After what should be known as the big disappointment, we all slowly started our way back to the dressing room. I'll describe each girl:

Sarah and Brynn are happy, Brynn happier, Sarah a little bit nervous.

Maddie, Kendall, Nia, and Kenzie are upset, not visibly, but they are.

JoJo doesn't really care about not placing, she loved her dance.

And I, well, the trio was first in our division, so I'm happy for that.

Liam and Peter were in the buffet, lucky them.

And I suppose the moms and Abby are upset that we lost with two out of three dances of the show this week.

Right now, the only thing I care about is celebrating Liam's tenth birthday.